Equanimeous St. Brown and Velus Jones Jr. are starting to establish themselves as the top two receivers after Darnell Mooney in the Chicago Bears’ offense.
Heading towards the third week of Chicago Bears training camp and the receiver competition is beginning to take shape with Darnell Mooney, rookie Velus Jones Jr and Equanimeous St. Brown starting to establish themselves as the most consistent receivers.
First Darnell Mooney to no one’s surprise is becoming the big play maker as he gains confidence within the new offensive scheme. Mooney is the clear number one in camp and has consistently flashed speed and separation in and out of his breaks running his routes. He’s very agile and makes people miss in the open field which translates to big yards after catch potential.
The question always was who was going to step up and support Mooney and the answer seems to be Equanimeous St. Brown and Velus Jones Jr. are standing out through the first two weeks of training camp. Reports out of camp have been nearly consistent on who is making the most plays in camp on a day to day basis.
First Jones Jr. showed up in a big way with his speed. Jones Jr.’s speed is next level and he could be the perfect player to fill the slot receiver spot in this offense. Attacking the middle of the defense with speed puts pressure on the linebackers and opens up lanes in the running game. They have to respect the jitter bug like Jones Jr. in the open field or else the chunk passing plays start to pile up.
Secondarily Equanimeous St. Brown continues to make plays all over the field in an offense he’s already come up in and has experience in. Equanimeous St. Brown comes to the Bears from Green Bay where he was cut last year only to be brought back and completely fix his focus on remaining in the NFL. Luke Getsy praised Equaniemous St. Brown for facing this adversity and overcoming it to put himself in position to contribute a lot for the Bears this upcoming season.
Fields to EQ!! #Bears pic.twitter.com/o6YZQDctHo
— David Peters🐻⬇️ (@David_Peters_04) August 5, 2022
Equanimeous St. Brown is not only using his size to his advantage (he’s 6-foot-5) he’s also showing off some speed getting open deep. If he continues to use his speed combined with his size he could be a great go up and get it target for the Bears. Because even if he is covered, he can out jump the guys to make plays on the ball.
Fields hits Equanimeous St. brown in the back of the end zone for a TD. Nice body control by ESB to go up and get it and still get two feet in bounds
— Chicago Football Connection (@CFCBears) July 29, 2022
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy expressed as much talking about the receivers and how they’ve started to establish themselves within the offense.
“These guys have bought into the right mindset, and the competition brings out the best in all those guys,” Getsy said. “You’ve seen these guys working their butts off and pushing themselves and buying into the philosophy of the style of play that we’re going to play. That mindset and getting nasty and getting physical is a big part of it. I’ve been very impressed with these guys getting after it that way. The competition part of it, I love every bit of it because it makes all of us better.”
Bears receivers have taken turns stepping up.
“Everyone’s kind of had a day here and there,” Getsy said. “It’s been fun. Velus the other day did a lot of cool things for us. ‘EQ’ has been doing a really nice job. Byron, all the guys. I’ve been really impressed with the way these guys have attacked the day. We’re not good enough at any of those positions, including Mooney, so we’ve got a lot of work to do there. But I’ve been really impressed with their approach.
Now with injuries to with Byron Pringle, who is slated to miss significant time and N’Keal Harry limping off the field with a left leg injury these Equanimeous St. Brown and Velus Jones Jr. have even more chance to establish themselves as the best options behind Mooney.
For More Great Chicago Sports Content
Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
